Lucianna Oliveira

Artist Statement

Spectre is a project that uses photography to investigate whether it is possible to capture the punctum, in this case, the moment in time when a feeling was felt, and an emotion was captured. For the project, I wanted to investigate if it was possible to solidify the abstraction of feelings, using the medium of photography to express the inexpressible.

Focusing on trauma and emotional distress, especially in the face of a relationship breakdown, I took photographs that showed mundane activities and intimate moments with family and friends, as a way of coping with a feeling of loss. The photographs were spontaneous expressions of moments when words failed to provide a narrative of the human condition.

I wanted to keep the images simple and spontaneous, so as a result, I decided to purposely avoid any editing. This decision reflected my curiosity to explore whether a photograph which is spontaneously taken holds more meaning and is truer to the moment than an image that has been manipulated.